By Ed Raymond

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Remembering Two Men Whimpering in the Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdom

In 1284, Hamelin, Germany hired a rat killer to rid the residents of the flea carrier bringing them the Black Plague. For some reason, the mayor refuses to pay him after he supposedly accomplishes the task. The rat killer, piping beautiful music, leads 130 of the town’s children out of a town—and the hypnotized children are never heard from again.

Today, a plaque on what is now called the Pied Piper House reads: “A.D. 1284, 26th day of June–the day of St. John and St. Paul. 130 children, born in Hamelin were led out of town by a piper wearing multicolored clothes. After passing Calvary near the Koppenberg they disappeared forever.” In 1384, some resident entered the following in the town records: “It is 100 years since our children left.”

In 2016, the city of New York and the United States of America saw a handsome, tall blonde-haired TV personality float down on an escalator with his beautiful trophy wife, cheered by a bevy of local actors paid 50 bucks to acclaim his descent from a towering skyscraper, to announce he was running for president of the most powerful country in the world.

But behind his attractive façade lurked an ignorant psychopath who couldn’t tell the difference between truth and big and little lies. Having graduated from elite institutions, he cannot refer to American or world history, art, or literature because he is ignorant. Like all psychopaths, he has a narcissistic malignancy, loving only himself and his personal welfare. But here is another Pied Piper in a $5,000 navy blue suit, using the music of his constant lies to draw millions of people from reality to Trump Nirvana, a place where QAnoners and White Supremacists are oblivious to care, pain, or external reality, and buy his red MAGA caps made in China.

Why Do People Pay $1.4 Million for Hitler’s Watch and $500 Million for a Yacht?

I hope you find the answer somewhere in this column. In 1990 we had 66 billionaires and only ten superyachts of more than 250 feet in length. In 2022 we have about 760 billionaires, are adding more monthly, and they own 170 superyachts. In those 32 years the median wage has risen only 20%. In 2021, the leading dealer in superyachts in Palm Beach, Florida and others around the world sold 887 superyachts and took orders for 1,000 more. …